Corruption of the Mind

For John, BLUF:  There are signs that Academia has become a hotbed of Anti-Semitism.  Why would we send our children there?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Yet Another Anticolonialist Professor Getting a Plum Job After Attacking Israel

From , by Mr David Strom, 6 November 2023, 6:31 PM.

Here is the lede plus six:

I have been incredibly (and justifiably) harsh on most of the anti-Israel protesters and academics, but I do believe that there is plenty of room for debate about Israel’s response to the 10/7 attacks. People of goodwill can disagree on the best path forward for Israel.

But damn, there really are few people of goodwill out there. Most of the protesters and Israel-bashers as just antisemites and/or anti-White/anti-Western.

This is true both of the protesters in the streets and the academics who have openly sided with Hamas or at least Palestinian radicals. Most of them just hate Jews, almost all make it clear that they want Israel wiped off the maps. “From the river to the sea” means that precisely.

For some reason, New York City is not just the home of more Jews than any other city in the world but is also antisemitism central in academia. I just wrote about how the City University of New York is filled with vile antisemites, and now I see that NYU just hired a professor who felt “affirmed” by Hamas’ rape and murder rampage on 10/7.

“Affirming.” How nice.

NYU announced the appointment of Eve Tuck, a professor of critical race and indigenous studies at the University of Toronto, on Oct 9 — just two days after Hamas terrorists massacred 1,400 Israeli civilians.

Though her work is focused on native peoples, she has found common cause with Palestinian terrorism — including defending Hamas’ deadly rampage.

What has happened ot higher education?  I guess I could settle for the students not learning history in their K-12 education.  Not learning about World War II, about the Holocost, about the Holodomor, about pograms against the Jews  But, it seems to be spreading across the teaching faculty.  That is scary.  It wuld radicsally change this nation, as Natoinsl Socilism did Germsny after World War I, and not for the better.

Higher Education was, I thought, about explore all aspects of an issue and coming to a reasnoable set of conclusions.  It appears I was wrong.  It appears to be bout imposing one's prejudices on young minds, changing the path of Western Civilization of Democracy.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Tools of Knowledge

For John, BLUF:  Some would throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Scholars claim that statistics 'serve white racial interests'

From Campus Reform, by Reporter Toni Airaksinen, 11 January 2018, 5:19 am ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Three British professors recently claimed that statistical analyses have been weaponized to “serve white racial interests” within academia and beyond.

Led by David Gillborn, a professor at the University of Birmingham, the professors argue that math serves white interests because it can “frequently encode racist perspectives beneath the facade of supposed quantitative objectivity.”

“Contrary to popular belief, and the assertions of many quantitative researchers, numbers are neither objective nor color-blind,” Gillborn and his team assert in their article for the journal Race, Ethnicity, and Education.

To address the racism numbers reinforce, the professors advocate for the adoption of “QuantCrit”—a portmanteau for “quantitative analysis” and “critical race theory.” Quantcrit, they say, has five key tenets, including that “numbers are not neutral.”

As Lord Wellington said:  "Lies, damn lies and statistics."

Mark Twain:  "Figures don't lie. but liars do figure."

Statistics is a powerful tool, but when people are not hoonest in their statistical collection or analysis it becomes another tool for misleading others.  To blame statistics and to try and recreate the tool with a new name is itself dishonest.  Statistics help us understand our world.  For example, while Blacks make up and 13.5% of the American population. they are 8.5% of the residents of Lowell.  Is there something to be learned there?  during COVID, after an initial spike the Black population of Lowell had a lower infection rate.  What was to be learned from that?

Statistics should be embraced, after being checked. and used to help elevate every discourse.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Voltaire Weeps

For John, BLUF:  Free Speech is on the docket.  The right to hold an unpopular view is being refuted.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Professor Amy Wax—The Disciplinary Committee’s Decision Is Expected By September 5, 2023: What Is At Stake?

From New Reform Club, by Blogger Seth Barrett Tillman, 10 August 2023, 1:51 PM.

Here is the last paragraph:

I do not know Professor Wax.  I cannot and do not speak to the remainder of your “charge sheet.” I do know something about Powell.  On that basis, I state that should Wax be disciplined, in whole or in part for assigning the Powell interview, or for voicing her unpopular opinions in a non-discriminatory fashion, I tremble in regard to what the consequences will be for freedom of speech, thought, and conscience in your university, in the United States, and elsewhere.

Blogger Tillman nails it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Judging Talent

For John, BLUF:  How do we, in this age of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, pick for talent to do a job?  In New York City the Mayor is asking for photos of job applicants to ensure Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Merit system is unjust because it rewards productive individuals, professors argue

This item is from eleven months ago, but nothing suggests things are better.

From Campus Reform, by Kate Anderson, 8 September 2021, 11:07 AM.

Here is the lede plus three:

Professors at top American universities are criticizing the merit system in academia, arguing the concept is a 'barrier' to realizing DEI outcomes.

'Campus Reform' spoke with one professor who criticized merit pay for its effect on the 'gender gap in bonus pay.

Professors from the University of Arizona and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs are arguing that "success and merit" are "barriers" to the equity agenda.

“Admitting that the normative definitions of success and merit are in and of themselves barriers to achieving the goals of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion is necessary but not sufficient to create change,” professors Beth Mitchneck and Jessi L. Smith recently wrote for Inside Higher Education.'

My question is, how do we wring progress from a system that does not reward excellence?  Would a system that accepted mediocracy have given us the Salk Polio Vaccine or Neil Armstrong on the Moon??  Would we today have Facebookr iPhones?

The companion question has to do with our form of government.  If our form of government is based on Western European (British) ideas of merit and hard work and majority rule, and is thus anathema, what is an acceptable replacement?  Is it the Chinese Social Credit System?♠  Perhaps it is the strong man system of an Idi Amin?  This is not a question we should stumble into blindly.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The Wikipedia writeup seems to be downplaying the undesirable aspects of the system, perhaps to placate the Chinese Government.

School Administrators Squashing Academic Freedom

For John, BLUF:  This is academic freedom and its errosion in American institutions of higher learning, is to our detriment.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Law Student Complains about a Question; Professor Sentenced to Re-education Camp

From The James G Martin Center for Academic Renewal, by Mr George Leef, JD, 2 March 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

Law students are adults who have completed an undergraduate degree.  They’re in a professional school to learn the law, procedures, and skills they’ll need in a conflict-ridden, frequently harsh world.  You would expect that they would act accordingly.

Sadly, that’s not always the case. As we’ll see, law students can be petty and vindictive.

And you would also expect that the people who run law schools would act like responsible scholars, defending their faculty members against groundless attacks.

Sadly, that’s not always the case either.  As we’ll see, law school administrators can act like craven cowards, scurrying away from academic principles at the first hint of trouble.

Welcome to the case of Jason Kilborn, a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago law school.  He has been on the faculty since 2010, teaching civil procedure, evidence, and other courses.

It isn't just in Law Schools.  There are indicztions that Dr Anthony Fauci was using his power of the purse to stifle researchers who were not following his line during the COVID Pandemic.

Academic Freedom is important, in that challenging old ideas and putting forward new ideas is how scientific progress (and other academic progress) is made.  We should not allow the powerful to stifle thinking.  The other path leads to a new serfdom and ignorant solutions imposed from on high to the detriment of the People.

One wonders if the profliferation of University Administrators is helping along this evil trend.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Election Outcomes

For John, BLUF:  One of the strengths of the United States is our ability to host a wide variety of views, but not all of those views can be actuated at the same time.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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UVA instructor:  'Topple the government' if election 'worst-case scenario' happens

Here is the sub-headline:

• A University of Virginia instructor said that Americans need to "actively topple the government" if the "worst-case scenario" happens.
• The instructor previously tweeted a New York Times article favorable to the Chinese Communist Party.
• He also quoted Karl Marx while responding to the death of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

From Campus Reform, by Campus Correspondent Haley Worth, 3 November 2020.

Here is the lede plus one:

University of Virginia Postdoctoral Fellow David Walsh posted on his personal Twitter feed that Americans need to do more than protest if the "worst-case scenario" happens following Tuesday's presidential election.

“Here’s the thing: if the worst-case scenario happens next week, Americans don’t need to just 'protest.'  They need to actively try to topple the government," Walsh tweeted on October 27.

That would be a coup, in plain language.  And, a coup sounds to me like treason.  So Professor Walsh is so upset with our current form of Government and who is elected that he would commit treason to make it more like he wants it.  The result is that he would substitute his own views for those of a large percentage of our voting population, perhaps a majority of our voting population.  That seems a little arrogant, but I am not an academic.

I guess Professor Walsh is just anxious to see how the election comes out.  Aren't we all?

This does remind me of the line attributed to the late Professor Herbert Marcuse, when he was still in Germany:  "Abolish the Weimar Republic.  Whatever replaces it has to be better."

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Antifa Backlash

For John, BLUF:  While Academia is a far left mess, that is no reason to deny Free Speech Rights.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Professor Forced to Resign for Supporting Antifa

From Pajama Media, by Mr Rick Moran, 27 August 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

A professor at an Iowa community college was forced to resign after some of his social media posts supporting the radical left group Antifa came to light.

Jeff Klinzman, an adjunct professor of English literature at Kirkwood Community College told local reporters last week "I affirm that I am antifa." Klinzman was responding to one of his social media posts that appeared to threaten Donald Trump.

Reason:

In response to a tweet from President Donald Trump calling antifa "gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats," Klinzman had written, "Yeah, I know who I'd clock with a bat…" on Iowa Antifa's Facebook page.

The school claimed that Klinzman was not removed due to his beliefs, but that their decision was "based solely on their commitment to harboring a safe learning environment for our students, faculty and staff."

"However, when the expression of views by him or any member of our community is perceived as placing public safety in jeopardy, or hampers our ability to deliver on our mission, we will always do what is necessary in service to our students' pursuit of a higher education."

Even if one identifies with the indefensible Antifa, one’s right to speak what one wants should not be curtailed.  If the First Amendment means anything, it means the right to be wrong.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Bad Take

For John, BLUF:  I am embarrassed for my nation that partisanship has led to an unwillingness to accept the results of an election, and thus to lack of cooperation on important issues.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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An Open Letter to the Director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Here is the sub-headline:

On June 17, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, posted an Instagram live video discussing the detention camps along the southern US border as “concentration camps” in which she used the phrase “Never Again.”  This drew sharp criticism the following day from Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, and others for allegedly misappropriating a slogan associated with the Holocaust.  After several days of heated media and political debate, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum released a statement on June 24 condemning the use of Holocaust analogies.  We received the following open letter addressed to the director of the museum, Sara J. Bloomfield, delivered by the signatories on July 1.

—The Editors

From The New York Review of Books, by Scholars Omer Bartov, Doris Bergen, Andrea Orzoff, Timothy Snyder, and Anika Walke, et al, on, 1 July 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

We are scholars who strongly support the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many of us write on the Holocaust and genocide; we have researched in the USHMM’s library and archives or served as fellows or associated scholars; we have been grateful for the Museum’s support and intellectual community. Many of us teach the Holocaust at our universities, and have drawn on the Museum’s online resources. We support the Museum’s programs from workshops to education.

We are deeply concerned about the Museum’s recent “Statement Regarding the Museum’s Position on Holocaust Analogies.” We write this public letter to urge its retraction.

To say it flat out, I am disappointed in this.  This statement shows a total lack of perspective.  For one thing, this is not about people being uprooted and then sent to a camp, being ripped from their home, and then sent to a camp from which they were not expected to return.  No, this is about people who have voluntarily left their homes and illegally passed through other countries to enter ours, where reception facilities are inadequate and resources to improve those facilities have been stingily provides by the Congress, and workers, like those at Wayfarer, have been working to thwart improving said facilities.  And, what is the plan?  Open borders for the 42 odd million people of Central America, plus the people from other parts of the world filtering across our Southern Border.

I do wonder if this would have been published if the signers, and the Editors of The New York Review of Books had realized things were as bad under President Obama?

Regards  —  Cliff

Today, 100 Years On

For John, BLUF:  A day to say thanks.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day

They are all the same day.

From the Armistice between Germany and her opponents in World War I.  The agreed time was 11 o'clock (not 11:11), on 11 November 1918.

It was the end of fighting on the Western Front, but not the end of fighting everywhere.  There was still fighting in what would become Poland, in parts of the Middle East, and within Russia.

Remembering our Service Members, all sacrificed, as did their families, but some sacrificed all.

Regards  —  Cliff

Fearing the Secret Police

For John, BLUF:  Best I can tell, there are no Secret Police in the US.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Left Has Become the Gestapo

From PJ Media, by Dr Helen Smith, 6 July 2018.

Here is the Conclusion:

The left doesn't fear the Gestapo because they have become the Gestapo.  They are the ones kicking in the doors now and unless those of us with different voices stand together to stop them, it will escalate.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Bias Confirmation

For John, BLUF:  Remember, Psychopaths are just like us, only more goal oriented.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Washington, D.C.: the Psychopath Capital of America

Here is the sub-headline:

A new study ranks each state, plus D.C., by their psychopathic tendencies.  The race for first? It isn’t even close.

From Politico by Mr Derek Robertson, 23 June 2018.

Read it yourself.

Hat tip to the The Drudge Report.

Regards  —  Cliff

Resisting Diversity

For John, BLUF:  The next step will be to define tradwives as fascists.  Inherently fascist.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Housewives of White Supremacy

From The Old Gray Lady, by Ms Annie Kelly, 1 June 2018.♠

In this article Ms Kelly examines the "traditional wife" (tradwife), apparently an artifact of the right side of the political spectrum.

Ms Kelly sees this vision of the tradwife as including a traditional, 1950s, lifestyle, "all supported by a single income".  The funny thing is, I see a lot of Democratic Party writing that also talks about how it would be better if families could be supported on a single income.  Not upper middle class families, of course, but those in the lower economic strata.

Hat tip to the Althouse blog.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Ms. Kelly is a Ph.D. student researching the impact of digital cultures on anti-feminism and the far right.

Belleville Shooter

TRIGGER WARNINGS:  In which I suggest gun laws only go so far.
For John, BLUF:  Authorization to carry is a good thing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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New Report: GOP Baseball Suspect Committed ‘Act Of Terrorism’ ‘Fueled By Rage Against Republican Legislators’

This is from Daily Caller Associate Editor Peter Hasson, 6 October 2017.

Here is the lede plus one.

The left-wing Bernie Sanders supporter who opened fire on a crowd of Republican congressmen in June intentionally committed an “act of terrorism” that was “fueled by rage against Republican legislators,” according to a new report released by the state’s attorney on Friday.

The suspect, 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson, picked the baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia as his target months in advance of the shooting, according to the report.  Hodgkinson was also seen watching the Republicans practice for the congressional baseball game the day before the shooting, where he shot and wounded four people, including Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise.

Mr Hodgkinson is from Belleville, Illinois, an otherwise very normal little city.

Think how bad that could have been if Mr Hodgkinson was any kind of a shot or if there had not been armed men present to return fire.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

"I detest America"

For John, BLUF:  That is OK, probably Reporter Walter Duranty did also  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'I Detest America': 148 Lost Documents by Alan Turing Accidentally Found in Old Storage

This is from Science Alert and Reporter Signe Dean, from 28 August 2017.

After not seeing the light of day for at least 30 years, a unique collection of letters by famous mathematician Alan Turing has been found in a storage space at his old university.

Well, apparently it isn't just the Antifa.  Way back when I was in Elementary School Noted Mathematician Alan Turing despised America, per a letter to a colleague.

Ouch!

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Discrimination in the Academy

For John, BLUF:  I don't see it so much, but then I an in Continuing Ed at UMass Lowell.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Confession of Liberal Intolerance

It is the opinion page of The New York Times, so perhaps the letter from Pinch is having an impact.  The Columnist is Mr Nicholas Kristof.

Here is the lede plus three:

WE progressives believe in diversity, and we want women, blacks, Latinos, gays and Muslims at the table — er, so long as they aren’t conservatives.

Universities are the bedrock of progressive values, but the one kind of diversity that universities disregard is ideological and religious.  We’re fine with people who don’t look like us, as long as they think like us.

O.K., that’s a little harsh. But consider George Yancey, a sociologist who is black and evangelical.

“Outside of academia I faced more problems as a black,” he told me.  “But inside academia I face more problems as a Christian, and it is not even close.”

That seems pretty strong. But, here is a broader look at the problem:

Four studies found that the proportion of professors in the humanities who are Republicans ranges between 6 and 11 percent, and in the social sciences between 7 and 9 percent.

Conservatives can be spotted in the sciences and in economics, but they are virtually an endangered species in fields like anthropology, sociology, history and literature.  One study found that only 2 percent of English professors are Republicans (although a large share are independents).

In contrast, some 18 percent of social scientists say they are Marxist.  So it’s easier to find a Marxist in some disciplines than a Republican.

This election is just making it worse, where those students (and faculty?) who were for Mrs Clinton are being given counseling.  What is that saying about those who voted for Mr Trump?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff